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Claudine and I would like to let you know that The Carriage House Inn will be closed during the period of Sept. 6 2017 to April 30 2018, reopening on the first of May. If you would like to make a reservation for late spring and summer 2018, you can make your requests through our Rates & Reservations page. Thanks for your patronage, and we look forward to seeing you in 2018.

For those of you who haven’t heard, the summer of 2017 will go down as one of the weirdest, wettest summers in Sodus Point’s recent history. The trouble started in April, and continued to plague the community for most of the summer. Residents and businesses along the shoreline were using sandbags and pumps to try and keep their homes and places of business dry. The last time flooding in this town shut down businesses was 1973, according to some news sources.

But Sodus Point is strong, and although some traditional yearly events had to be postponed (like the July 4 fireworks and Sunshine Parade, and the opening of the Sodus Point Beach), many local businesses remained open.

We took several drives up to the Point, and although Grieg Street was closed in whole or in part for much of the summer, parking was offered in the municipal parking lot, and businesses such as Captain Jack’s and the newly remodeled Marlin’s restaurant next door remained open for business. Other businesses struggled to remain open despite the water issues.

Driving down Wickham Blvd to the Coast Guard station and lighthouse revealed extremely high water, and some fairly spectacular wave action against the breakwater.

We were concerned about our friends the Karczewskis, who were returning to the area in May, but we needn’t have worried. The Carriage House Inn was high and dry all season, and open for guests.

One of the highlights of the summer at the Carriage House Inn was when it was chosen as the location for filming several segments for The Titanic Channel (http://www.titanicchannel.tv/), a subscription-based online channel “like Netflix for the Titanic enthusiast”. Maritime historian J. Kent Layton, co-author of “On a Sea of Glass” and author of a number of other historical works concerning the great ocean liners of the past, is a contributor for The Titanic Channel. Being familiar with the Carriage House Inn’s turn-of-the-century ambiance, he chose it as a fitting backdrop for filming four segments for the channel. Claudine & Jerry were gracious hosts for this event, and Claudine even produced some of her famous chocolate chip cookies for Kent, the visiting producer from Florida, and a local Rochester film crew!

All in all, even though it was a weird, wet summer in Sodus Point, the community pulled through to make the best of things, and our favorite Inn was cooking up something good nearly every morning all summer long!

A couple of months ago, Claudine found this wonderful recipe for a blueberry and cream cheese French Toast. We tried it out, and it has turned into one of our guest’s favorite recipes. It is simple to make, although, if there is a good way to “dollop cream cheese evenly”, we’d like to know how.

It is so rich and tasty, it probably should be outlawed.!! Until then, we will keep making it. We hope you will enjoy it too.

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast

Ingredients:

10 slices of cubed bread (we use French bread, but sandwich bread will work as well)

8 oz of cream cheese

2 cups of fresh blueberries

9 eggs

1 ¾ cups of milk

½ cup of maple syrup

Instructions:

Spray a 9X13 pan with oil.

Place half the bread cubes covering the pan bottom.

Dollop the cream cheese evenly on bread cubes. (this is the hardest part—you want small dollops to spread evenly)

Place half the blueberries on top of the cream cheese.

Top with remaining bread and then remaining blueberries.

Beat eggs, milk and maple syrup together.

Pour directly over mixture in pan. Make sure every bread cube is soaked!

Bake covered at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

ENJOY!

This can be made gluten free and dairy free by using gluten-free bread, dairy free cream cheese, and lactose free milk. It tastes just as yummy!

One of the joys we get at the Carriage House Inn is getting to know guests from other countries and cultures. Recently, a family of four from Cologne, Germany showed us how found out about us in order to make a reservation during their U.S. vacation. They produced their well thumbed and annotated copy of Iwanowski’s 2015 Travel Guide for the Northeast USA and showed us the review of the Carriage House Inn on page 497

Iwanowski Travel Guides are well known and well regarded travel publications. They feature guides to countries around the world, and are similar to AAA travel guides in this country. We were surprised and pleased to see this section in the guide calling the Carriage House Inn “one of the 50 best”.

Roughly translated, it says: “This historical house in one the 50 best bed and breakfasts in the Northeast U.S. The …..rooms all have their own bathrooms and are located in the Victorian main house built in 1870….right next to the Lighthouse Museum at Lake Ontario”

Also, on page 472, the Carriage House Inn is listed as one of the “special recommendations” for places to stay when visiting the Northeast U.S.

Even if you don’t have a travel guide, we’re pretty easy to find. We are right here in our quiet neighborhood a Wickham and Ontario Streets in beautiful Sodus Point, New York, “the Crown Jewel of Lake Ontario”. Be sure to visit Claudine and I at the Carriage House Inn, where you will truly “feel like home” (Did I mention the bottomless cup of coffee and chocolate chip cookies?).

When operating a Bed and Breakfast, one is always in the subtle process of acquiring new skills. You may not even realize these skills are developing until one day they emerge, fully formed.

Such a case happened this week. We were preparing a batch of blueberry buttermilk pancakes for Thursday morning breakfast’s main course. The challenge with pancakes is always the quest to achieve a perfect golden brown on the outside of the cake, while the inside batter is fluffy, completely cooked but not overcooked. A fine balance indeed! That skill has thus far eluded me, but Claudine has mastered it quite well. Thursday I discovered why.

I was getting the coffee carafe ready for a round of refills, and Claudine was at the griddle, pouring the batter on. As she was tending to the pancakes, at the critical point, I saw her lean over and speak to them! She was talking to them in a low voice, saying “Come on guys, you can do it!”. She nurtured and coddled those hotcakes with a little vocal coaching until they were just right and transferred them to the plate. They were ready to be served.

And now I know the truth–my wife is a Pancake Whisperer! That just might be what makes the Carriage House Inn pancakes so special. I only hope to follow in her footsteps to be a worthy whisperer myself.

To those who might debunk the whole idea of “Pancake Whispering”– and there are those who do–I offer the following photographic evidence along with this report. You can draw your own conclusions. As for me, well, you had to be there.

One of the biggest treats Claudine and I get at the Carriage House Inn are the impromptu musical events that occur out of the blue, unplanned and unannounced. Over the past five years we’ve experienced a bluegrass breakdown on a snowy winter evening, a folk hootenanny on a midsummer eve, a mother and daughter violin mini-concert, and some old time acoustic rock and roll. We’ve even had a bagpipe performance (thanks, Sandy Wallace!), and others too numerous to mention. We enjoy every moment of music that has wafted out of our dining room and parlour, and look forward to the next surprise musical interlude.

This week, musical lightning struck twice in a 10 hour period. A guest who recently moved to the USA from China shared some Chinese folk songs on the twelve string guitar, as well as his rendition of “Country Roads” The following morning a young woman from northern Germany played about 20 minutes of variations of jazz keyboardist Gary Burton’s “Times Like These” on the piano.

And at times like these, the Carriage House Inn really does feel like home. So when you are ready for your next travel adventure, come and stay with us…..you never know what unexpected delight you might come to experience here!

Claudine made these delicious chocolate strawberries and pretzels as a surprise snack for our Saturday night guests. Of course, we had to sample several to make sure they were suitable for others. (“I’m not sure…maybe I better try another one”)

Breakfast this morning was a new recipe–a Blueberry Cream Cheese Baked French Toast. Not only was it delicious, it was also gluten free, and can be prepared lactose free as well. There are no dietary barriers to a great breakfast at the Carriage House Inn!

Its hard to believe that this was the scene May 15, just a little over a week ago! With summer solstice just 5 weeks away, it was 35 degrees F. with 40 mile/hour winds. Thankfully, spring weather is really (and finally!) here. This week should see sunshine and temperatures into the 70’s and 80’s.

At the Carriage House, we’ve been celebrating spring for weeks, getting the house and grounds ready for the summer season. We hope to see you here in Sodus Point!

These yummy baked pears were part of the breakfast offering on Sunday morning! Amazingly simple to make, they are the newest addition to our breakfast family. It’s only minutes from the beginning to the oven.

Cut a whole pear in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with honey. Add some butter to the seed hollow, then sprinkle with pecans or walnuts. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees, add a dollop of plain yogurt–and pre-pear to be delighted!!